China’s Online Payments Totalled CNY830 Trillion in 2012
Online payment transactions handled by Chinese payment service providers totalled 830 trillion yuan (CNY) – equivalent to around US$134.3 trillion – in 2012, according to an industry report published by the Payment and Clearing Association of China (PCAC).
The report shows that in 2012, Chinese banks handled 19.2bn online payment transactions amounting to CNY823 trillion. A further10.46bn online payment transactions totalling CNY6.89 trillion were handled by other payment agencies last year.
Online transactions are being used not only in traditional areas, such as online shopping and bill-paying, but also in areas related to education, tourism, fund products, insurance, community services and medical and health services, the report stated.
However, experts observed that the increasing variety of payment tools has also caused problems concerning the safety of funds and customer information and called for improved regulation and supervision.
“The payment business is closely linked with people’s daily lives, so customers will be less tolerant of risks,” said PCAC’s deputy secretary-general Kang Lin.
Central bank the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has so far approved 197 non-financial institutions to provide payment services, of which 72 are eligible for online payment business, PCAC data showed.
The association said that mobile payments, or online payments made through mobile phones, totalling CNY2.31 trillion were handled by banks in 2012, as well as CNY181.2bn in transactions handled by non-bank payment service providers.